This week, it’s a battle of 1982 with (4)Tootsie up against (13) Rocky III . On one side, you've got Rocky III which practically sweats neon. You’ve got Mr. T in his film debut, Hulk Hogan in a wrestling cameo, Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" blasting over a montage, and Sylvester Stallone looking less like a boxer and more like a man who ate a bodybuilder. On the other side sits Tootsie, a sophisticated comedy about gender and a Dustin Hoffman performance so committed it earned him an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win.
Rocky III is the 80s as pure spectacle: loud, muscular, and gloriously unnecessary. Tootsie is the 80s trying to say something meaningful while wearing big shoulder pads. Both have things that make them 80s. Only one can be the 80s-est.
Here is the training montage from Rocky III that we mentioned that shows a lot of man-thigh:
